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Resources for Restoration Practitioners in the Northwest
Existing marsh with dike to be removed in foreground
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The Northwest Region
The coastal habitats of the Northwest Region, including coastal wetlands, shellfish beds, and salmon-bearing streams, are as diverse as the fisheries they support. But they also face challenges from development, erosion, fish passage barriers, and pollution. Since 1996, the NOAA Restoration Center has supported nearly 500 community restoration projects in the Northwest Region, benefiting more than 4,500 acres of estuarine and riparian habitat and opening approximately 800 miles of in-stream salmon habitat.
What We Do
In Washington, Oregon, and Idaho 27 populations of salmonids are listed as threatened or endangered as a result of habitat loss and over harvesting. Nearly half of historic tidal wetlands have disappeared from Oregon’s coastal estuaries; in Puget Sound, Wash. more than 80 percent of tidal wetlands have been lost and vast areas of floodplain wetlands have been cut off from rivers by levees or filled for development. We work with our partners to reconnect these marshes and floodplains to tidal or riparian waters and to restore habitat. We restore spawning and rearing habitats for fish and improve fish passage by removing dams or replacing undersized culverts.
Case Study—Port Susan Dike Removal, Washington
Puget Sound Chinook salmon are about to gain 150 acres of prime rearing habitat, thanks to a $4.3 million dollar public-private collaboration between The Nature Conservancy, NOAA Restoration Center, Washington State, and private donors.
For Puget Sound Chinook salmon, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, habitat in the delta estuaries is essential. But, only a quarter of the historical 60,000 acres of vegetated delta wetlands still exist. To implement the Chinook recovery plan, and restore Puget Sound, the Governor’s Puget Sound Partnership has proposed a bold target: restore of an additional 7,380 acres of delta wetland.
In the summer of 2012, The Nature Conservancy—with $1 million in funding from the NOAA Restoration Center—will complete the first large-scale restoration project to address this goal in the Stillaguamish watershed. The Conservancy bought un-farmable land at the mouth of the Stillaguamish River, and worked with local farmers on a restoration plan to improve flood drainage. They will build a dike setback, allowing the river to once again flow north, nourishing eroding marshes with river sediments and providing prime rearing habitat for salmon.
Northwest Region Funding Listserv
